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Wednesday, December 28, 2016

stylPro - Yay or Nay?

Not Sponsored or Paid | Not a Collaboration | Product Received as Gift

Hi!

I placed an order with Meaghers recently - they very kindly included a stylPro with my order to make up for a bit of confusion that led to a delay. This has been billed as the hottest Christmas present for makeup lovers this year - so although I had no intention of buying one myself, I have to admit I was delighted to get the chance to have a go and see what all the fuss was about.

The stylPro was designed by former Apprentice winner Tom Pellereau. It promises to be a solution to the one makeup related problem most of us detest - cleaning our brushes. It claims to clean and dry makeup brushes in seconds.

Inside the box, there's a sleeve containing detailed instructions, a spindle, 8 collars to fit different sized brushes, the main battery operated spinner, and a heavy glass bowl with a collar that sits in. Batteries are included. Notably, there's no cleaning solution included.

Meaghers were including a 250ml bottle of cleaner with every stylPro purchased before Christmas - otherwise, the solution can be purchased at around €14.95 from various chemists.

To clean a brush, you first choose the correct sized collar, slot the brush in, attach it to the spindle, then to the main handle like so:

You then need to add the cleaning solution to the bowl - there are conflicting instructions on the bottle and in the box, but regardless of whether you add water or not, you need to then immerse the brush in the solution and dunk it up and down a few times, before spinning it in the solution to clean, and then lifting it above the liquid to dry the brush. You need to keep the brush straight while spinning.

When the brush is spinning, the bristles become very splayed:

When I used it, the brushes did look clean and they did feel dry. Unfortunately, I have a number of reservations about the stylPro that led to me passing it on to someone else.

Pros:
Instead of waiting for makeup brushes to dry, they are bone dry within seconds.
Easy to use once you get the hang of it.
Attractive packaging and easy to clean.
There's a collar to fit every sized brush including awkwardly shaped Real Techniques ones (be warned though - these tend to take a bit more effort to dry)

Cons:
If you have a lot of brushes, it takes considerably longer due to having to continuously swap collars.
The bowl is made of glass and I was terrified it'd fall and shatter.
There's no solution included.
Too expensive for what it is.
Does not work with other brush cleaners.
Collars can be tight to remove, I was afraid I'd break certain brushes pulling them out.
Are brushes actually clean?

That last point is the one that turned me off, unfortunately. While I did find the product enjoyable to use (who doesn't love a good gimmick) - it took me over an hour to clean and dry 52 brushes and I used almost a half bottle of solution. I understand that not everyone is going to have that many brushes, but to me this is sold as a "pro" product (it's in the name) so would suggest that it is a product to make life easier for someone with a large collection of brushes.

On the bottle, here are the instructions:

This clearly states that one capful of solution should be used instead of water. It also says to avoid prolonged contact with skin. Which is worrying considering this product is never rinsed off, and it will be going on something you repeatedly use on your face.

Here are the instructions from the sheet inside the box:

This states that for water-soluble makeup like blusher, bronzer and loose powder, you need to add 4ml of anti-bacterial liquid soap into the bowl before adding water. For non water-soluble makeup, you should use 10-20ml of stylPro brush cleaner (not the 8ml it says on the bottle) without water. So, ideally, I should have gone through all my used brushes and determined which were used with water soluble product and which were non water-soluble - really time consuming.

This next paragraph is from the stylPro website:

So, there were tests done to ensure that the stylPro was effective in removing bacteria. Here are the ingredients in the cleaner:

Apart from Argan Kernel Oil, Wheat Germ Oil and Grape Seed Oil, the only other ingredient is Isododecane, a solvent.

While the stylPro may have been proven to be effective at removing bacteria - where does the bacteria go? There's only one place it can go - into the water. So, the first brush I clean will be clean - but nothing after that will be clean unless I change the water/solution for every brush. Also, if I use the same water/solution for 2 or 3 small brushes, aren't I just drying bacteria on to my brushes? There is no rinsing step.

The instructions in the box specifically state that you need to use an additional anti-bacterial soap with any brushes used for powder makeup but I haven't seen anyone do this. Would I bother to do that for every powder brush? Probably not. Would I change the water/solution after every single brush? Not if I had to do more than 10 at a time, no.

It's a great idea - and it's a wonderful feeling to spin a brush around and have it come out dry - but I really hate that there's no step to rinse the solution off. I wouldn't even use baby shampoo or olive oil on a brush without rinsing it off, so I definitely don't feel like it's safe to use a solvent and just dry it on to the brush. When I used it on smaller eye brushes, they still felt greasy after they dried and some had an oily residue on them. I also don't feel like this is a deep clean - this is a spot clean, and I personally wouldn't pay €65+ for a glass bowl that is only suitable for spot cleaning.

I thought that this may work as a brush dryer - but sadly it didn't get brushes dry at all when I washed them in my normal way and tried to dry them with this.

I know other people really love the stylPro - and I'm sure it's a lifesaver for those stuck for time or for people who only have a handful of brushes - but for me it's not the "pro" product it claims to be, and it definitely has not convinced me that it would make cleaning brushes any easier. I'm very grateful to Meaghers for giving me a chance to try it out, but I'm passing it on and I'll stick to my old faithful and the radiator for now.

If you are interested in the stylPro, it costs €65 from Meaghers.ie. The cleaning solution costs €14.95.

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